Sandra Finley

2017-04-30 The Anthrax Vaccine and Gulf War Illness

 Vaccinations (incl corruption of science & govt)  No Responses »
Jun 172019
 
by Rishma Parpia and Barbara Loe Fisher
Health, Immune & Brain Disorders
The Anthrax Vaccine and Gulf War Illness
Story Highlights
  • In anticipation of biological warfare, military personnel were given the anthrax vaccine during the 1990s Gulf War.
  • After their service, Gulf War veterans suffered a wide range of debilitating symptoms that became known as the Gulf War illness or “Gulf War Syndrome.”
  • There were numerous concerns regarding the safety of the anthrax vaccine, which is considered by many to have been a major cause of Gulf War illness.

In the early nineties, the United States speculated that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had the capability of using biological weapons against military coalition forces in the Gulf War.1 In response to this potential threat, military personnel from the U.S. and other countries were given several  non-traditional vaccines, including anthrax vaccine, in addition to yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis B, pertussis and other vaccinations routinely given to soldiers.2

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) officials considered anthrax to be a likely organism that could be weaponized and a licensed anthrax vaccine had been stockpiled for emergency use since 1987.3 Military personnel from the United Kingdom also were given vaccines for anthrax, the plague and pertussis and Canadian military personnel received similar combinations.

U.S forces received experimental drugs, such as pyridostigmine bromide, and a different battery of vaccines, including anthrax vaccine and botulinum toxoid vaccine.1 No previous deployment in U.S. history had involved vaccination of large numbers of soldiers against biological agents.1

Gulf War Illness

Shortly after their service in the Gulf War in 1990-1991, returning American soldiers and civilian workers reported that they were suffering from debilitating symptoms such as severe fatigue, joint and nerve pain, headaches, memory loss, gastrointestinal issues, insomnia and respiratory and neurological disorders.4 This cluster of acute and chronic multi-symptom illness affecting veterans of the Gulf War became known as the Gulf War illness or “Gulf War Syndrome.”4

A 2014 report by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that Gulf War illness has been consistently reported in all studies of the health of Gulf War veterans. The syndrome has been documented to affect about 25-30 percent of Gulf War veterans, which is approximately 175,000 to 250,000 of the 700,000 U.S. troops deployed in the war.5 According to the report:

Studies published since 2008 continue to document poorer general health status and greater disability among Gulf War veterans than in contemporary veterans who did not deploy to the Gulf. Despite the extensive number of studies conducted with Gulf War veterans in the 23 years since Desert Storm, medical surveillance in this population remains seriously inadequate.5

The initial argument by government health officials seeking to explain the pattern of symptoms associated with Gulf War illness was that the symptoms were a result of stress psychological trauma suffered by the troops. However, more convincing evidence pointed to a combination of pharmaceutical, chemical and environmental exposures5 and the safety of the anthrax vaccine was prominently questioned because of continuing reports of a high number of serious reactions among those given the six dose series of anthrax shots. A GAO report in 2002 found that 85 percent of the troops given the mandatory anthrax shot reported reactions and that 16 percent had either left the military or changed their status in part because of the mandatory anthrax vaccination program.6

Off-Label Use of Anthrax Vaccine by U.S. Soldiers

Anthrax is a serious bacterial infection but is not contagious. It is usually contracted through direct exposure to an infected animal or animal waste products in contaminated soil when the bacteria enter the bloodstream of a person through a skin wound or by swallowing or inhaling anthrax spores. If left untreated with antibiotics, lethal toxins from the anthrax bacteria multiply in the body and can kill up to 20 percent of those infected.7

At the time of the Gulf War, BioPort Corporation, now Emergent Biosolutions, was the exclusive manufacturer of anthrax vaccine (BioThrax) supplied to soldiers8 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had licensed BioThrax vaccine as effective based on evidence against cutaneous anthrax (acquired through the skin).9 However, there was no evidence for effectiveness against aerosol (inhaled) exposure, which is the weaponized form of anthrax that military personnel would be exposed to in a bioterrorism attack, and so the FDA had not licensed BioThrax as effective against inhalation anthrax.3

Therefore, when the DoD ordered that anthrax vaccine be given to soldiers heading to the Gulf War, as well as other military personnel during the 1990’s and early 2000s, it was an “off-label” (experimental) use of the vaccine.10 It violated the licensed use authorized by the FDA and published in the approved vaccine manufacturer’s package insert.3

This licensing issue was specifically highlighted in 1995 in a letter written to the vaccine’s first manufacturer, the Michigan Department of Health,11 from the director of the army’s Medical Chemical and Biological Defense Research Program stating that…

This vaccine is not licensed for aerosol exposure expected in a biological warfare environment.”3 Moreover, another report released by the Department of Defense’s anthrax project manager noted that, “protecting service members from aerosol exposure to anthrax can only legally be done if the FDA licenses the vaccine for that specific schedule and indication.3

Although individual physicians may legally use licensed vaccines for off-label uses in some circumstances, the physician is responsible for assessing presumed “off-label” benefits against potential risks for each individual given the vaccine.3 However, with mandatory vaccination programs, the risk-benefit decisions that should typically be made by the physician is eliminated. Therefore, under U.S. law mandatory vaccination programs  are not supposed to use experimental (investigational) vaccines but only those vaccines that have been licensed by the FDA for approved indications.3

Questions About Squalene in the Anthrax Vaccine

There were several reports in the 1990s that some experimental anthrax vaccines given to American soldiers during the Gulf War contained squalene—an oil based adjuvant that hyper-stimulates an immune response.  Squalene adjuvants were not licensed for use in the U.S. at that time, and there was evidence that  squalene-containing vaccines used in other parts of the world had been linked to severe brain and immune system dysfunction.12 Although the FDA states that aluminum hydroxide was the adjuvant used in the anthrax vaccine and not squalene, the FDA has confirmed that lab tests may reveal the presence of squalene.13

Interestingly, a study published in Experimental and Molecular Pathology in 2002 demonstrated that that the production of anti-squalene antibodies in patients with Gulf War illness is linked to the presence of squalene in certain lots of anthrax vaccine.14

A document on the FDA’s website notes:

Because of the difficulty of removing squalene-containing fingerprint oils from laboratory glassware, it is hard to know whether the squalene is truly present in some lots of the vaccine or is introduced by the testing process itself. DOD, FDA, and several civilian advisory committees agree that squalene at such low levels has no adverse health consequences.12

The National Vaccine Information Center  (NVIC) has argued that squalene adjuvants have not been tested in comparison to placebos in large trials published in scientific journals. Moreover, there are no studies specifically evaluating cellular, molecular and DNA changes in the body after squalene-adjuvant vaccines have been administered.12

The inclusion of squalene adjuvants in some lots of anthrax vaccine may have been authorized under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which allows the FDA Commissioner to approve unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in “an emergency” to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat agents when there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives.15

DoD Mandated Anthrax Vaccine for All Military Personnel Despite Safety and Effectiveness Questions

Questions about the safety of BioThrax vaccine, as well as its effectiveness against weaponized inhalation anthrax, were growing long before the DoD decided to not only continue giving anthrax vaccine to soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also to expand the vaccination program to all U.S. military personnel and DoD civilian contractors. In 1996, in anticipation of mandating the widespread use of the anthrax vaccine in the military, BioPort Corporation submitted an investigational new drug application (IND) to the FDA to expand the approved indications for the vaccine to include (1) aerosol exposure to the insert; (2) switching to intramuscular injection and  (3) reducing the number of doses.3

On Dec. 15 1997, the Clinton administration decided to initiate the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP), which made the anthrax vaccine mandatory for all 2.5 million active duty U.S. service personnel.3 A few weeks prior to the launch of the AVIP, Secretary of Defense William Cohen held up a five-pound bag of sugar on national television warning the public that if the bag did indeed contain anthrax, it could kill half of the population of Washington, DC.3

In March 1998, Secretary Cohen was publicly given the anthrax vaccine after which mandatory anthrax vaccinations began for all military personnel and DoD civilian contractors.3

This decision for mass vaccination was made despite the fact that the FDA had not yet approved any changes to the vaccine manufacturer’s package insert.3 In a report published in the American Journal for Public Health, the author Meryl Nass MD wrote:

Six months after the IND was filed, but before any supporting data to amend the original license was submitted to the FDA, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Dr. Stephen Joseph, asked the acting deputy commissioner of the FDA, Dr. Michael Friedman, for a go-ahead to use the vaccine, thus skirting the FDA’s normal regulatory procedures for amending a vaccine license. Less than 2 weeks into his new position, Friedman wrote back, “While there is a paucity of data regarding the effectiveness of Anthrax Vaccine for prevention of inhalation anthrax, the current package insert does not preclude this use.” However, Friedman’s words merely expressed his personal opinion and did not comply with the requirements of the Code of Federal Regulations for amending the vaccine’s label; therefore, they provided no legally acceptable justification for the vaccine’s off-label use.3

In June 2001, there was an announcement made that there would be a “slow down” of the AVIP. Interestingly, the FDA had not released any more anthrax vaccine supplies in over a year. DoD announced that the only groups scheduled to receive the anthrax vaccine were the same two groups originally receiving the vaccine before DoD broadened the program in 1998: research laboratory personnel at high risk for anthrax exposure and active Special Forces troops.3

After Sept. 11, 2001 and Anthrax Letter Bombs: Calls for Expanded Military and Civilian Anthrax Vaccinations

When the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, they were almost immediately followed by the release of anthrax-contaminated mail in the U.S. postal system, and there were calls for expanded use of anthrax vaccine not only in the military but also some suggested the vaccine also should be given to the civilian population.16

NVIC was among the groups and individuals that questioned the use of the reactive anthrax vaccine by large numbers of American civilians, pointing out there were logistical problems for anyone attempting to launch a successful bioterrorism attack using weaponized anthrax (or smallpox) on the U.S. population, which would require the failure of both extra internal and external homeland security measures put in place after 9-11.17

Judge Issues Temporary Ban on Mandatory Anthrax Vaccination of U.S. Troops

In March 2003, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC on behalf of U.S. military personnel and DoD civilian contractors forced to get BioThrax vaccinations, asking the Court to declare the vaccine “experimental.”18 In October 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that it was “illegal” for the federal government to mandate anthrax vaccinations, which by then had been given to more than 1.2 million troops since 1998.19 

Judge Sullivan issued an injunction banning the Pentagon from forcing military personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea and parts of Asia and Africa from being required to get anthrax shots without their informed consent until the FDA adequately reviewed and licensed the vaccine.

Congress has prohibited the administration of investigational drugs to service members without their consent,” Sullivan said. “This Court will not permit the government to circumvent this requirement.” Sullivan wrote, “The men and women of our armed forces deserve the assurance that the vaccines our government compels them to take into their bodies have been tested by the greatest scrutiny of all—public scrutiny. This is the process the FDA in its expert judgment has outlined, and this is the course this court shall compel FDA to follow.19 

In 2006, the Pentagon resumed mandatory anthrax vaccinations of troops after the FDA pronounced BioThrax vaccine as “safe and effective,” including against inhalation anthrax.20

Proposed Pediatric Anthrax Vaccine Trial

In March 2013, BioThrax manufacturer, Emergent Biosolutions, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed to conduct clinical trials of anthrax vaccine on American infants and children. According to an article in Nature, “Interest in a vaccination campaign was spurred by a 2011 modelling exercise, ‘Dark Zephyr’, which found that a release of anthrax spores in a city the size of San Francisco, California, would compel officials to vaccinate 7.6 million people—including 1.7 million individuals under age 18.”

The Alliance for Human Protection, along with NVIC and other health safety groups, opposed the trials, citing the vaccine’s poor safety record, including many documented cases of brain and immune system damage suffering by military personnel in the Gulf War.21 

Within a week, bioethicists with the US President’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, also advised against proceeding with the proposed pediatric clinical trials, stating that until a bioterror attack occurs, tests of anthrax vaccine or other anti-bioterrorism “countermeasures” should not pose risks greater than those that a child might encounter in daily life or during a routine pediatric checkup.

References:

1 Peakman M, Skowera A, Hotopf M. Immunological dysfunction, vaccination and Gulf War illness. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 2006; 361(1468): 681-687.
2 U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Vaccinations and Gulf War Veterans. Mar. 28, 2017.
3 Nass M. The Anthrax Vaccine Program: An Analysis of the CDC’s Recommendations for Vaccine Use. American Journal of Public Health 2002; 92(5): 715–721.
4 Null G. Gulf War Syndrome: US Veterans Suffering from Multiple Debilitating Symptoms. Global Research Feb. 19, 2016.
5 Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illness. Gulf War Illness and the Health of Gulf War Veterans: Research Update and Recommendations, 2009-2013. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2014.
6 Roos R. Military anthrax vaccine shots caused many reactions, prompted some pilots to quit. CIDRAP Nov. 8, 2002.
7 National Vaccine Information Center. Anthrax and Anthrax Vaccine. NVIC.org.
8 Weiss MM, Weiss PP, Weiss JB. Anthrax Vaccine and Public Health Policy. Am J Public Health 2007; 97(11): 1945-1951.
9 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Use of Anthrax Vaccine in the United States. MMWR Dec. 15, 2000; 49(RR15): 1-20.
10 “Direct Order”–Soldiers Ordered to Take Anthrax Vaccine. The Vaccine Reaction July 15, 2016.
11 Fisher BL. Biological Warfare and the Anthrax Vaccine. NVIC.org December 2001.
12 La Vigne P. FDA Approves Experimental H5N1 Bird Flu Vaccine with Reactive AS03 Adjuvant for U.S. Stockpile. NVIC.org 2013.
13 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. AVIP Questions and Answers–The Facts on Squalene. FDA.gov 2005.
14 Asa PB, Wilson RB, Gary RF. Antibodies to squalene in recipients of anthrax vaccine. Experimental and Molecular Pathology 2002; 73(1): 19-27.
15 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Emergency Use Authorization. FDA.gov.
16 Rempfer T. The Anthrax Vaccine: A Dilemma for Homeland Security. Homeland Security Affairs 2009; 5(3).
17 Fisher BL. Biological Warfare and Anthrax Vaccine. NVIC Report December 2001.
18 Alliance for Human Research Protection. Lawsuit Filed Challenging the Legality of the Defense Department’s Anthrax Vaccination Program. AAPS Mar. 18, 2003.
19 Kaufman M. Court Orders Pentagon to Stop Anthrax Vaccinations. The Washington Post Oct. 28, 2004.
20 Lee C. Mandatory Anthrax Shots to Return. The Washington Post Oct. 19, 2006.
21 NVIC. U.S. Public Health Officials Support Pediatric Anthrax Vaccine Experiment. NVIC Newsletter Mar. 12, 2013.

2019-06-12 Canada’s top military general needs to resign. Bruce Moncur, rabble.ca

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?  No Responses »
Jun 142019
 

I support the call for the resignation of General Jonathan Vance.  Bad enough what is outlined in the article below.

What concerns me more is the intentional use of propaganda:

I recall:

 

Canada’s top military general needs to resign. Bruce Moncur, rabble.ca

http:   //rabble.ca/news/2019/06/canadas-top-military-general-needs-resign

 

General Jonathan Vance. Photo: NATO/Flickr

 

The Canadian military is currently fighting a three-headed dragon.

First, there is the state of the equipment. Second there is the problem of endemic sexual harassment. And third there is the perilous mental health of those currently in military service and those who have left.

The current chief of the defence staff, General Jonathan Vance, was supposed to tackle all three heads of this monster, but he has failed in spectacular fashion.

It is no secret that the ships, planes, helicopters and submarines that the Canadian forces employ belong in museums rather than in operation. Recently, the Sea King helicopter finished 40 years of service. These helicopters are not just obsolete for the battlefield. In many ways, they have become a safety hazard to the government employees who use them every day.

The refueling ship that caught ablaze and had to be towed to Hawaii is just one example of the decrepit state of our navy. It was after this incident that the former Conservative government awarded a sole source contract to build a new refueling ship to a company in Quebec, Davie Shipbuilding in Lévis, across the river from Quebec City.

When the incoming Trudeau government took over in October 2015, rival shipbuilders, the Irvings of New Brunswick, asked several cabinet ministers including Scott Brison, a Nova Scotia MP, about reopening the procurement process to consider other proposals.

The Liberals had just swept Atlantic Canada, winning all 32 seats. They decided it was worth paying the $89-million cancelation penalty to the Quebec firm to re-open the process. That decision pushed the desperately needed ship’s production back years.

Someone leaked the information about this decision to the press and Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, the military’s second-in-command, was selected out of 73 possible whistle blowers and charged by the RCMP.

The subsequent two years have seen a persistent attempt to hinder the Canadian military’s Norman’s due process.

Norman was relieved of his position and denied compensation for his legal representation. In the end, when the prosecution abandoned the case, the government had to apologize to the vice-admiral.

General Vance accepted full responsibility for the Admiral Norman fiasco, but not before he, as chief of the defence staff, had received an increase in pay.

No progress over two decades on sexual assaults

On top of all this, General Vance has had to deal with a problem that has given Canada’s Armed Forces a black eye for decades: the sexual misconduct within the forces. So persistent is this problem that Maclean’s magazine could use the same headline about the victims of sexual assault within the Canadian forces twice, 20 years apart.

The military leadership announced a few years ago that sexual misconduct would be the chief of the defence staff’s top priority. Then came a booze-filled Department of National Defence flight, carrying former NHLer Tiger Williams to meet the troops on the front lines. Instead of spreading good will and raising morale, the former hockey star got himself accused of sexual misconduct.

Although the charges were dropped, the damage was done. The military decided to cancel these morale-building visits.

The auditor general’s 2018 report and a recent Statistics Canada study both showed that little to no progress on the sexual harassment file has been made in the three years since the current chief of defence staff assumed his role.

That is not a record of which anyone could be proud.

Then there is the very recent fiasco of the new Afghan Memorial. It was unveiled behind closed doors with only high-ranking leadership and civilian staff in attendance. The military brass did not invite any of the more than 1,800 soldiers injured in the Afghanistan operation injured; nor did they see fit to invite the families of the 158 soldiers killed there.

The ensuing outrage led to yet another government apology, with General Vance, yet again, shouldering the full responsibility. The damage to the mental health and well-being of the injured veterans, their families and the families of the dead was done, and no apology could assuage it.

Insensitivity to veterans and their families

I have had my own experience with the Canadian military’s insensitivity to the suffering and sacrifice of its front-line troops. As a member of the service excellence committee I attended the last veterans’ stakeholder summit. The veterans affairs minister, at the time, was Kent Hehr, and he presided over the whole affair.

This event coincided with the 10th anniversary of Operation Medusa, the 2006 Canadian-led offensive in Afghanistan, that saw 12 Canadian soldiers lose their lives. It was a deeply traumatic experience for all who took part, including me. Prior to the summit, I requested, through our committee, that Veterans Affairs give a presentation which would offer material that could help me and my colleagues find the mental health services we all needed.

Veterans’ Affairs denied this request, on the premise that it would take away from the “vibe” the stakeholders’ summit was trying to create.

I then asked if they would at least provide an information table for the veterans of Medusa in attendance, but that request was denied as well.

During the summit the chief of the defence staff did a Q and A with the assembled stakeholders, during which I asked him why this opportunity — probably the last where most of the battle group would be together — was wasted. His response was not merely to disagree. It was to yell and berate me. Three weeks later, one of the Operation Medusa veterans committed suicide.

This callous behaviour towards colleagues, subordinates and soldiers who died or were injured shows that the current chief of the defence staff is not fit for his command. He should do the honourable thing and resign his position before this contract comes to an end. His conduct and demeanour have been truly unbecoming of an officer.

Editor’s note, June 14, 2019: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the refuelling ship contract had originally been part of a bidding process; in fact it was awarded as a sole source contract to Davie Shipbuilding.

Bruce Moncur is a Canadian Afghan war veteran. In 2006, he suffered severe injuries during Operation Medusa in a “friendly-fire” incident between Canadian and American troops.

Photo: NATO/Flickr

 

Further Reading
The Canadian Forces boast largest PR machine in the country, complain about ‘toxic’ media treatment
General Jonathan Vance claims the media’s reporting on the Canadian Forces has created “very toxic narratives.” Poor muffin.
Military refuses to print ad from law firm seeking to represent sexually assaulted soldiers
The military’s internal ideological capacity has a wide reach. The newspaper at the naval base rejected an ad from a law firm seeking to represent CF members who had been sexually harassed/assaulted.
How Canada’s military shapes media coverage of deployments
The military goes to great lengths to shape coverage of its affairs and one should expect stories about Canada’s mission in Mali to be influenced by the armed forces.

2015-09-21 Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance and the “weaponization of public affairs”. Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?  No Responses »
Jun 142019
 

Defence Minister Jason Kenney, right, shares a laugh with Admiral William Gortney, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, middle, and Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command Lieutenant-General Jonathan Vance, left, during the Conference of Defence Associations Institute conference on security and defence at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa on Thursday, February 19, 2015. Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS

 

There is a lot of excitement these days in the public affairs branch at National Defence headquarters about Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance and what senior officers are calling the “weaponization of public affairs.”

There are already different interpretations among public affairs officers about this new plan/terminology being attributed to Gen. Vance.

But the more common explanation provided to Defence Watch is this: There will be more strategic leaks by the Canadian Forces/DND to journalists who are deemed “friendly” to the military. Such leaks will consist mainly of “good news” stories or positive initiatives and the journalists will be required to heavily promote those.

Equally important, is the flip-side of this “weaponization” strategy. That is the targeting of journalists who are writing or broadcasting the stories that the CF/DND don’t want out in the public domain.

Journalists seen as “trouble-makers” are those producing stories about failed equipment purchases or uncovering details about severely injured soldiers not being treated properly or individuals being sexually harassed, etc., public affairs officers tell Defence Watch.  In other words, reporters who are producing what the CF/DND views as negative or embarrassing news stories.

The “weaponization” aspect will come into play with phone calls to media bosses, letters to the editor, etc. – anything to undercut the credibility of such journalists in the eyes of readers and their employers, NDHQ public affairs sources say. Other tactics aimed at these journalists could also be developed.

But will this strategy work?

Vance isn’t the first to attempt to bring pesky journalists to heel.

It was quite common for officials working for then Defence Minister Peter MacKay to phone editors of various publications to complain about reporters. Such officials would make demands for immediate changes to headlines or question how the gaffe-prone MacKay was being portrayed in articles and broadcasts.

Officers working for Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk would suggest journalists produce highly positive articles about their boss or not write about certain embarrassing topics that angered him. Those topics included equipment procurement problems and the poor treatment of physically and mentally injured soldiers. The payoff? Guaranteed access to the general (i.e. more interviews with Natynczyk).

Some journalists faced other issues.

Defence Watch readers might recall that it was revealed in 2013 that Canadian Forces military police launched an investigation regarding CTV journalist Bob Fife.

Fife’s “crime” was that he had dug up embarrassing information about Natynczyk who in 2011 spent more than $1-million using government aircraft to jet to hockey games and to a Caribbean vacation spot.

Nothing ever came of the probe by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service. But critics saw the move as an intimidation tactic by the NIS against a journalist who was clearly not playing military cheerleader.

For sure, the “weaponization of public affairs” is certainly a catchy title.

But Vance’s “weapon” is arguably a little rusty.

These days DND/CF public affairs officers communicate with journalists mostly via emails. And those emails usually consist of pre-approved “talking points.”

Even such canned answers can take time to make their way to a reporter. It recently took DND public affairs a week to provide me with the current number of personnel in the military’s reserves.

UPDATE: Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance spoke to Defence Watch late Monday about his vision for the “weaponization of public affairs.”

He acknowledges this is a term he has used but believes his intention is being inadvertently misconstrued/misunderstood by some public affairs officers at NDHQ.

“It’s no surprise to me that there are those who would see weaponization as an aggressive, attack mode,” he explained.

But Vance tells Defence Watch that although his terminology might seem to indicate offensive operations against the media that is not his plan.

“I don’t consider it unfair you are reporting on it,” he explained. “In fact I’m happy you are. What I am taking about is operationalizing the public affairs branch. I want to make the public affairs branch better.”

Vance noted that the DND/CF public affairs team works hard but he is frustrated at a system that has been set up that often does not allow the Canadian Forces or DND to provide its viewpoints to the media and others.

“I want Defence to be a respected voice in the very important defence dialogue that goes on in the country,” Vance explained. “Sometimes I feel we lose that respect because we have incomplete information and not in a timely (way). We don’t do it on purpose.

Vance is now working on producing guidance for public affairs officers on what he wants.

“I was detecting our inability to answer questions in a timely manner and to be able to respond and deal effectively in a very dynamic and very fast paced information environment.”

“I don’t know whether there is a structural change that is required,” Vance noted. “Other nations have the ability to access subject matter experts and turn things around and get them back out.”

2019-06-14 Ola Bini Was Friends with Julian Assange. He Has Spent Two Months in Jail Without Charge in Ecuador. Democracy Now

 Julian Assange, Wikileaks, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, Arjen Kamphuis  No Responses »
Jun 142019
 

Recommend:  listen to the video at this link.   The transcript is provided if you prefer.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/14/ola_bini_ecuador_arrest_wikileaks_assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared before a magistrates’ court in London Friday, saying his life was “effectively at stake” if the U.K. honors an extradition request from the United States, where he faces 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act. Meanwhile, a friend of Assange’s, Swedish programmer and data privacy activist Ola Bini, is still in prison in Ecuador, after being arrested April 11, the same day Assange was forcibly taken by British authorities from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and has been jailed ever since without charges. We speak with Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and a friend of Ola Bini.

 

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: In London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared before a magistrates’ court today, saying his life was “effectively at stake” if the U.K. honors an extradition request from the United States, where he faces 17 counts of espionage. Assange is the first journalist or publisher to be indicted under the World War I-era law.

While Assange’s case has dominated international headlines, far less attention has been paid to a friend of Julian Assange who’s been jailed in Ecuador since April 11th, the same day Assange was taken by force by British authorities from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Ola Bini is a Swedish programmer and data privacy activist who lives in Ecuador. He has not yet been charged with any crimes, has not been permitted to post bail for his release. The U.S. Justice Department has now said they want to question Ola Bini. Critics say Bini is being targeted because he knew and had visited Assange multiple times at the embassy in London, as well as for his own activism. This is a statement from his lawyers, Carlos Soria speaking last month.

CARLOS SORIA: [translated] This is an embarrassment. Our client is somebody who is innocent and who has contributed to the entire world the development of information privacy. And now, just because he is a friend to Julian Assange or because he travels, they put him in prison. There are no words for this, and we will denounce it both nationally and internationally. … We cannot allow Ecuador to look like this, like a state that persecutes people for the books they read, for the technology they use or for the simple reason of having a friend who is currently being reproached by the world. Before, Assange was appreciated for letting the world know the atrocities committed in other parts of the world.

AMY GOODMAN: Still with us is Vijay Prashad, the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Earlier this week, he published a piece about Ola Bini in the Daily Hampshire Gazette titled “My friend is in a prison in Ecuador.”

Why is he there? Why was he picked up, Vijay Prashad? Why was Ola Bini picked up and jailed in Ecuador the same day Julian Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorean Embassy and put in the Belmarsh Prison in London?

VIJAY PRASHAD: You know, Amy, this is a difficult story for me. I have known Ola Bini for many years. It is still perplexing to myself and to the friends of Ola of why he’s in prison, the El Inca prison in Quito, Ecuador. We don’t know why he’s in prison. There’s no charge against him. There has been some allegations made about his friendship to Julian Assange, but, you know, Amy, if that’s a crime, you and I should be in jail, as well. We have also met him. We have, you know, understood that meeting him is itself not a criminal activity.

Ola Bini is a programmer who spent most of his life trying to create tools to help human rights activists create a shield against surveillance by governments. People who are in the tech world might know the programs called the Tor Browser or Enigmail. These things were developed by Ola. He moved to Ecuador partly because he felt that with the government of Rafael Correa, it would be a good place to do the kind of work he was doing—precisely the opposite of what people are alleging of him, that he broke into this, that and the other government materials. In fact, the opposite: He would create shields to prevent governments from breaking into the kind of databases held by human rights defenders. You’ve got to remember that in the Snowden—Edward Snowden’s revelations, he said that the NSA had been routinely attacking the servers of human rights and other civil society organizations. It was precisely Ola’s mission in life to protect those organizations.

He was picked up on April 11th at Quito airport, while he was on his way to an advertised martial arts training course in Japan. He’s been held in prison for two months. There have been two hearings. No bail has been allowed. And no charge has been put forward. The prosecution in Ecuador has made it seem like a sinister thing that Ola has many computers and Zip drives and so on. You know, when I travel to places, I carry about 10 to 12 Zip drives. That’s because I keep a Zip drive for each story. It’s got nothing in it to seem to be something, you know, sinister or bizarre. These are things that software developers have. They tried to make him seem like a sinister character.

I was even told by another reporter that people were asking if Ola was the code cracker for Julian Assange, which he of course was not, and could not have been the code cracker at all when the materials passed on by Chelsea Manning came to the WikiLeaks organization. You know, that was one of the allegations that was floating around, not put on paper. Ola only met Julian when he was already in the Ecuadorean Embassy, long after the revelations of—very important, crucial revelations that came from Chelsea Manning, also now in prison.

I personally feel that the U.S. government, in trying to make a case against Julian Assange, has sort of swept up people that it thinks might have some evidence against Julian, for instance, having Chelsea Manning once more in prison, having Ola sit in a prison in Ecuador, squeezing them to see if they can either provide evidence against Julian—in Chelsea’s case, she has said she will not do so; in Ola’s case, he says, “I don’t have any evidence”—or that they will point the investigators in a direction to get Julian. I mean, we’ve got to understand that there is a vendetta by the American state against Julian Assange. That’s very clear. And I think there’s a lot of collateral damage around the world in the U.S. state’s attempt to put Julian either in prison for the full length of his life or near that.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Ola Bini speaking last month to CNN en Español, CNN in Spanish.

OLA BINI: They will find nothing, because I haven’t done anything. The only thing I’ve done is being the friend of Julian Assange. … The minister of the interior, María Paula Romo, goes on TV, the same day as I’m detained at the airport, and talks, five hours before my detention order is written—says on TV that I’m detained. That feels to me like the government is out to get me.

REPORTER: Why do you have the impression that Moreno hates you?

OLA BINI: I don’t say in my letter that he hates me. I wonder if he hates me, because subjecting me to something like this, this kind of process where I’m put in prison without any evidence, when I know that I’m innocent because I haven’t done anything, that feels personal to me.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Ola Bini, again, speaking with CNN from jail. He was also asked by CNN about his relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

OLA BINI: Just as me, he believes very strongly in the right to privacy. So, the first time I went, I actually went to talk to him about these kind of things. … I kept coming back because I like him, because he’s a friend of mine, and I kept coming back because more and more people abandoned him. … I felt that it was my responsibility to do it. But also, it was my pleasure as a friend.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Vijay Prashad, if you could comment further? Again, he’s speaking from jail to CNN. In the case of Julian Assange, we understand that Ecuador was handing over all of his electronic equipment, his hard drives, etc., to the British government. What’s happening with Ola Bini’s electronic equipment, his phones, his computers? Has the U.S. requested that equipment?

VIJAY PRASHAD: Well, the United States has been giving the Ecuadorean officials so-called, you know, expertise and help in breaking some of the barriers that Ola–you know, Ola is a very clever person. He has put all kinds of protections to his materials. These are basically off-the-shelf protections called OTR, Off the Record, and so on. So, the Americans initially said that they were going to just assist the Ecuadoreans. Now it seems that the U.S. government has asked for this material to be handed over to the United States directly.

I just want to say something about Ecuador. You know, Ola was asked in that interview if Lenín Moreno hates him. That’s the president of Ecuador. It’s very important to remember that shortly before the Ecuadorean government handed over Julian Assange to the British police, the International Monetary Fund provided Ecuador with a loan of $4.2 billion, and there was also a commercial package of about $6 billion, so a total of $10 billion was transferred to the Ecuadorean government by the auspices of the IMF. This happened just before Julian Assange was handed over to the British authorities, just before Ola was arrested. I mean, we’ve got to understand the position. When you look at these things in sequence, it looks like there must have been a deal. This big, huge package was given to the Ecuadoreans.

At the same time, you know, there’s been an enormous leak of private information from the phone and Gmail account of President Moreno. This information, called the I-N-A or INA Papers, shows direct corruption by Mr. Moreno, including an apartment in Madrid, Spain, and so on. He’s been deeply embarrassed by this and has been lashing out, saying that there are Russian hackers inside Ecuador. In fact, the first arrest of Ola at the airport, the piece of paper he was shown had a Russian name on it, and it was said that it’s a Russian person. When Ola said, “That’s not me. I’m not Russian,” they took the paper away, went back, made a new document with Ola’s name on it and saying he was Swedish, and picked him up.

So, there’s a very strange story here, Amy. We don’t know all the parts of it yet, but we need to put the IMF into the picture. I think we need to put the fact that there’s pressure from the United States on Ecuador now, first, of course, to hand over Julian Assange, and now to, you know, in a sense, do something—we don’t know what—to Ola Bini.

AMY GOODMAN: And very quickly, have you spoken to him in jail? What are the conditions like there?

VIJAY PRASHAD: The conditions are very difficult for Ola. Ola is a vegetarian. He has had a hard time there. And as he said very early into his arrest, that the conditions in Ecuador are bad for all prisoners, Ecuadorean and himself, who is a Swedish person living in Ecuador. He is a very decent and upstanding person. He refused to allow this to become merely about himself, saying the conditions for Ola Bini are bad; he said directly, they’re bad for everybody.

AMY GOODMAN: And Sweden—

VIJAY PRASHAD: But it’s been very difficult—

AMY GOODMAN: Is Sweden doing anything about getting him out?

VIJAY PRASHAD: The Swedish government called in the Ecuadorean ambassador, but Sweden has very little leverage on Ecuador. In fact, it doesn’t have an ambassador in Ecuador, just a counsel. We are hoping that pressure from the U.N. special rapporteur, David Kaye, who has called this an arbitrary detention, will have some impact on other European countries. Even the OAS special rapporteur has said that this is a very arbitrary, dangerous situation, should not be allowed. But, you know, the ability of these U.N. rapporteurs to move an agenda is very limited. And I’m afraid that the pressure from the United States government on Ecuador has basically invalidated the moral standing of European countries and even the United Nations.

AMY GOODMAN: Vijay Prashad, I want to thank you very much for being with us, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. We will continue to follow Ola Bini’s case, as well as the case of Julian Assange, both picked up more than two months ago. Ola Bini remains imprisoned in Ecuador, and Julian Assange going through extradition hearings right now to the United States at the Belmarsh Prison in London.

Coming up, we look at Advocate, a new prize-winning documentary about the pioneering Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel, who spent five decades defending Palestinians who resist the Israeli occupation. Stay with us.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

2019-05 A tribute to Greta Thunberg and all the kids who have joined her. Action.

 Climate  No Responses »
Jun 082019
 

I remember posting:

On Friday, November 2, 2018, a youth in Sudbury, Ontario was the first youth

in the Western Hemisphere to join Greta’s #FridaysForFuture #ClimateStrike.

(11-year-old Sophia Mathur is the Sudbury youth.)

I wanted Greta’s and Sophia’s actions to have meaning.   But I didn’t have a lot of confidence in North America.   I wondered if we’d hear their names again.

Last year, the first I knew of  Greta Thunberg and Sophia, an 11 year-old who set off the action in Canada:

2018-11-07   #FridaysForFuture #ClimateStrike Solidarity with our young people. SAVE THE DATE Friday, December 7, 2018 Climate Reality Canada, iMatter Canada and Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada.

 

Seven months later – –  hard to believe.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The First Time with Greta Thunberg  (Rolling Stone, March 6, 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8g0zmDvxRw

2:50 minutes

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School Strikes Special  – – March 15, 2019  (worth a scroll through – pictures)

https://act.350.org/mailings/view/67422?t=1&akid=67422%2E390946%2EbDipVu

Today is an historic day. As I write, 100,000s of children and students have already walked out of school to strike for the climate. And their global call to action is only just beginning — with incredible images and video from Australia, the Pacific, Asia, Europe and Africa already flowing in. . . .

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The disarming case to act right now on climate change | Greta Thunberg  (TedTalk, Feb 13, 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2QxFM9y0tY

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Greta is on the Asperger’s Spectrum.   In various communications she explains how the characteristics of Asperger’s have contributed to her ability to do what she’s done/does.   In one exchange, other students who are Asperger’s step forward.  It’s heart-warming to see what happens when they “come out of the closet” and connect.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The Davos Video,  2.53 minutes

https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2019/jan/25/i-want-you-to-panic-16-year-old-greta-thunberg-issues-climate-warning-at-davos-video 

At places like Davos people like to tell success stories.  But their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag.   . . .

I want you to act as if the house was on fire, because it is.

Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, has told world leaders: ‘I don’t want you to be hopeful, I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day and then I want you to act.’  In an impassioned warning to act now on climate change, Thunberg told her audience at Davos: ‘Either we choose to go on as a civilisation or we don’t’

 

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2019-05-23 Young people have led the climate strikes. Now we need adults to join us too, mark your calendar SEPT 20. The Guardian

A call for mass, global resistance on  September 20, 2019.

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ASIDE   (scroll down for the last items re Greta Thunberg)

I dropped the ball.

Three women single file on bikes

The first called out

Two shouted “louder”

I heard

Can’t believe

It’s all gone

Huge area

They cut them all down

Bull-dozed, bombed

Nature’s limbs and meat

Strewn and heaped

Big trees dead.

“Where?” got trapped in my mind

Tongue stopped

Muscles of the intuitive atrophied

Survival skills dulled

 

Reconnect, someone knows “where”?

Carbon sinks

The trees have to stay

Act like the house is on fire

Because it is

Homes to species

The trees have to stay

At places like Davos people like to tell success stories

But their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag.

 

CTV Mother bear, two cubs destroyed

after attack in Powell River

Worst bear year because the berry crop dried up

Don’t say it was bulldozed

Cougar complaints are up across Vancouver Island

More of the animals are being shot dead.   Starving

Don’t say people like to tell success stories

But their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag

Greta Thunberg and the children whisper

Pick up the ball Sandra

Re-activate survival skills

The trees have to stay

Act like the house is on fire

Because it is

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Greta Thunberg in the European Parliament committee on environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oyw4Wo6Kng

1:00:33     Streamed live on Apr 16, 2019.   (Skip the first getting organized part.)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

SMALL-TOWN B.C.

From:  Sheri
Sent: May 29, 2019

Subject: great video . . .Students, “GLOBAL STRIKE FOR CLIMATE,  May 24 2019, Parksville B.C.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiD04TRwebQ

(INSERT:  The local News article by a student leader was very good.  Sorry I can’t copy it.)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Great, unbelievable, international momentum from a small beginning by Greta Thunberg.

2019-05-23 Young people have led the climate strikes. Now we need adults to join us too, SEPT 20. The Guardian

 Climate  No Responses »
Jun 082019
 
We can’t stave off global heating by ourselves.
Together, on 20 September, we can unleash mass resistance

and 46 youth activists

School students protest against the climate crisis in Melbourne, May 2019

School students protest against the climate crisis in Melbourne, May 2019. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

Tomorrow, schoolchildren and students will be out on the streets again, in huge numbers, in 150 countries, at over 4,000 events, demanding that governments immediately provide a safe pathway to stay within 1.5C of global heating. We spent weeks and months preparing for this day. We spent uncountable hours organising and mobilising when we could have just hung out with our friends or studied for school.

We don’t feel like we have a choice: it’s been years of talking, countless negotiations, empty deals on climate change and fossil fuel companies being given free rides to drill beneath our soils and burn away our futures for their profit. Politicians have known about climate change for decades. They have willingly handed over their responsibility for our future to profiteers whose search for quick cash threatens our very existence.

We have learned that if we don’t start acting for our future, nobody else will make the first move. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Once again our voices are being heard on the streets, but it is not just up to us. We feel a lot of adults haven’t quite understood that we young people won’t hold off the climate crisis ourselves. Sorry if this is inconvenient for you. But this is not a single-generation job. It’s humanity’s job. We young people can contribute to a larger fight and that can make a huge difference.

So this is our invitation. Starting on Friday 20 September we will kickstart a week of climate action with a worldwide strike for the climate. We’re asking adults to step up alongside us. There are many different plans under way in different parts of the world for adults to join together and step up and out of your comfort zone for our climate. Let’s all join together, with your neighbours, co-workers, friends, family and go out on to the streets to make your voices heard and make this a turning point in our history.

This is about crossing lines – it’s about rebelling wherever one can rebel. It’s not about saying “Yeah, what the kids do is great, if I was young I would have totally joined in.” It doesn’t help, but everyone can and must help.

Our school climate strikes have been a success and we’re only getting started

Anna Taylor

During the French revolution mothers flooded the streets for their children. Today we children are fighting for ourselves, but so many of our parents are busy discussing whether our grades are good, or a new diet or what happened in the Game of Thrones finale – while the planet burns.

This moment has to happen. Last year’s UN intergovernmental panel on climate change’s special report on global warming was clear about the unprecedented dangers of going beyond 1.5C of global heating. Emissions must drop rapidly – so that by the time we are in our mid- and late-20s we are living in a completely transformed world.

But to change everything, we need everyone. It is time for all of us to unleash mass resistance – we have shown that collective action does work. We need to escalate the pressure to make sure that change happens, and we must escalate together.

So this is our chance – join us on climate strike this September. People have risen up before to demand action and make change; if we do so in numbers we have a chance. If we care, we must do more than say we do. We must act. This won’t be the last day we need to take to the streets, but it will be a new beginning. We’re counting on you.

• Greta Thunberg, Kyra Gantois, Luisa Neubauer, Eslem Demirel, Vanessa Nakate, Noga Levy-Rappoport, Isra Hirsi, Zhang Tingwei, Angela Valenzuela, Martial Breton, Nurul Fitrah Marican, Asees Kandhari, Jessica Dewhurst, Alexandria Villasenor, Jonas Kampus, George Bond, Lena Bühler, Kallan Benson, Linus Dolder, Beth Irving, Zel Whiting, Marenthe Middelhoff, Lubna Wasim, Radhika Castle, Parvez Patel, Wu Chun-Hei, Anjali Pant, Tristan Vanoni, Luca Salis, Brian Wallang, Anisha George, Hiroto Inoue, Haven Coleman, Maddy Fernands, Bhavreen Malhotra Kandhari, Feliquan Charlemagne, Salomée Levy, Karla Stephan, Anya Sastry, Claudio Ramirez Betancourt, Vicente Gamboa Soto, Julia Weder, Lilly Platt, Balder Claassen, Kassel Hingee, Maria Astefanoaei and Pavol Mulinka are youth activists for Fridays for Future

2019-01 1919 A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike By Graphic History Collective and David Lester

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, Peace or Violence  No Responses »
Jun 082019
 

NOTE:   There is a good interview of David Lester and another member of the Collective,  CBC Radio  (https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-43-north-by-northwest) (June 8th).   (wait for it to be posted.)

 

BOOK LAUNCH  for “1919”, part of the celebrations, Miners Memorial Weekend

Cumberland B.C. Museum & Archives

Sunday, June 23,  11:00 AM

https://www.facebook.com/events/405553010273333/

= = = = = =  = = = = = =

(Scroll down to the companion comic book “Direct Action Gets the Goods“)

– – – – – – –

1919

Paperback /

In May and June 1919, more than 30,000 workers walked off the job in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They struck for a variety of reasons—higher wages, collective bargaining rights, and more power for working people. The strikers made national and international headlines, and they inspired workers to mount sympathy strikes in many other Canadian cities. Although the strike lasted for six weeks, it ultimately ended in defeat. The strike was violently crushed by police, in collusion with state officials and Winnipeg’s business elites.

One hundred years later, the Winnipeg General Strike remains one of the most significant events in Canadian history. This comic book revisits the strike to introduce new generations to its many lessons, including the power of class struggle and solidarity and the brutal tactics that governments and bosses use to crush workers’ movements. The Winnipeg General Strike is a stark reminder that the working class and the employing class have nothing in common, and the state is not afraid to bloody its hands to protect the interests of capital. In response, working people must rely on each other and work together to create a new, more just world in the shell of the old.

  • Paperback / softback, 120 pages
  • ISBN 9781771134200
  • Published January 2019

= = = = = = = =

Direct Action Gets the Goods
  • Paperback / softback
    $14.95

Art has always played a significant role in the history of the labour movement. Songs, stories, poems, pamphlets, and comics, have inspired workers to take action against greedy bosses and helped shape ideas of a more equal world. They also help fan the flames of discontent. Radical social change doesn’t come without radical art. It would be impossible to think about labour unrest without its iconic songs like “Solidarity Forever” or its cartoons like Ernest Riebe’s creation, Mr. Block.

In this vein, The Graphic History Collective has created an illustrated chronicle of the strike—the organized withdrawal of labour power—in Canada. For centuries, workers in Canada—Indigenous and non-Indigenous, union and non-union, men and women—have used the strike as a powerful tool, not just for better wages, but also for growing working-class power. This lively comic book will inspire new generations to learn more about labour and working-class history and the power of solidarity.

  • Paperback / softback, 64 pages
  • ISBN 9781771134170
  • Published January 2019

2019-06-10 For your selection, June 10. Peer through the haze, what do you see ahead?

 Peace or Violence  No Responses »
Jun 052019
 

THE LAST EMAIL SENT OUT:   For your selection, May 20, All Monsanto-Bayer Roundup.

FOR YOUR SELECTION, TODAY,  JUNE 10, Peer through the haze, what do you see ahead?

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

2019-05 A tribute to Greta Thunberg and all the kids who have joined her.  Action.

A set of postings – – an amazing kid, an amazing story.

If you only have time for a 2-minute video you will be rewarded.

PEACE versus WAR AND DESTRUCTION

When mainstream media is putting out good historical content and connecting it to today’s world,  I am happy!    Netflix uses celebrity musicians John Lennon and Johnny Cash.

2018   Two documentaries. War is over! if you want it – “Imagine” (conceptualizing) Lennon   & ReMastered: Tricky Dick & The Man in Black

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24600

– – – – – – –

The Graphic History Collective uses the Winnipeg Strike in 1919.

The history presented through graphics (think:  comic books) of the Winnipeg Strike and applied to today, seems too radical.

But look at the articles in this posting.  They cover a few topics but only a fraction of what people in many different places have been tackling for a long time.  Strikes, uprisings, don’t just happen.  They are the consequence of long festering.

Theatre will put contemporary language into the mouths of actors and clothe them to look like us in performances of classical drama.  . . .  I adjusted my thinking.  The Graphic History doesn’t look too radical!:

2019-01 1919 A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike By Graphic History Collective and David Lester

http: //sandrafinley.ca/?p=24611

– – – – – – – – – – –

  . . .  Peer through the haze, what do you see ahead?

TAX HAVENS, OFFSHORING

Uplifting:  the knowledge that so many people are working on so many fronts,  AND,  they are working internationally.  (Same as with Greta Thunberg and the kids on climate change):

2019-05-30 Tax Fairness Weekly

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24585

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And from the U.S.,  LEGISLATION!   With thanks to author Paul Rowan:

Make America Great Again by Cracking Down on Tax Havens

The U.S. has a lower rating on financial secrecy than even the Cayman Islands—and far too many politicians are benefitting.

EXCERPT:

The United States has earned a place alongside Switzerland and Panama as one of the world’s most lucrative tax havens and money laundering hotspots—a shameful situation that policymakers are finally trying to address. Several bipartisan bills are trekking through Congress that aim at halting money laundering, tax avoidance, and the use of anonymous shell companies for potentially nefarious purposes. One of the bills, the Corporate Transparency Act of 2019, has been in the works for more than a decade, and would require full disclosure of company owners’ true names and addresses to the Treasury Department.   . . .  

(Remind myself to look at Canadians for Tax Fairness to see if progress is being made in Canada.)

more:      (Link takes you off this blog.)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/make-america-great-again-by-cracking-down-on-tax-havens/

– – – – – – – – – – –

JULIAN ASSANGE & CHELSEA MANNING,

most recent:

2019-06-04 Julian Assange Scores Legal Victory as Swedish Court Denies Detention Request, CNN

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24593

  Main stream media in support – New York Times, Washington Post, etc.

2019-05-23  ‘Frightening’: Charges Against Julian Assange Alarm Press Advocates,  from NY Times

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24516

– – – – – – – – – – –

2019-05-28 “Glenn Greenwald makes an important point, that as a First Amendment question, it does not matter whether Assange is a journalist.” An important understanding re “TO WHOM” does the First Amendment apply?

Washington Post article at source

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24554

– – – – – – – – – – –

2019-05-29 Julian Assange: What happened to the freedom of speech? from the Washington Times.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24581

– – – – – – – – – – –

2019-05-27 Tide of Public Opinion is Turning in Assange’s Favor, Consortium News

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24551

– – – – – – – – – – –

2019-05-21 (Pre-empt): Battle breaks out for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s computers,  from AP

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24508

– – – – – – – – – – –

BAYER-MONSANTO ROUNDUP,  FOLLOW-UPS

Determination to stop the poisoning of the Planet.

I disparaged CBC, The Current‘s coverage of the issue.  That was Before seeing this new CBC VIDEO.

2019-04-26  The Monsanto papers: The Canadian Connection.  from Radio-Canada

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24526

– – – – – – – – – – –

And lo!  ABC News Australia put out an excellent video.   Note:  it is rare to see the role of CropLife mentioned;  it is a very large factor.   Good on ABC News Australia!

2018-10-08  Recommend: Australian video, The secret tactics Monsanto used to protect Roundup, its star product. Includes interviews of IARC, CropLife and Regulators. | ABC News (Australia)

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24510

– – – – – – – – – – –

In my view,  some basic knowledge of IARC is important to understanding the Roundup issue.  (IARC is not perfect;  it is not without scientists who flip-flop on issues, depending on the audience.)

2015-03 What is IARC? IARC 2015 “classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” . . . and “strong” evidence for genotoxicity.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24532

– – – – – – – – – – –

2019-05-24 Quebec woman seeks to file class action against makers of herbicide Roundup, Bayer-Monsanto. from CTV News

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24524

– – – – – – – – – – –

U.S. Right to Know has a Monsanto “Trial Tracker” – –  https://usrtk.org/monsanto-roundup-trial-tracker-index/)

– – – – – – – – – – –

In case you missed May 20,  this email was in response to flawed CBC coverage:

2019-05-17 Response to CBC, Roundup Court Awards: “Disclosure” in the trial process – – the documents that condemned Monsanto came from Monsanto itself.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24450

– – – – – – – – – – –

Also from May 20:

2019-02-18 Email to some female Canadian Senators: Ag Colleges and Programs are TEACHING young people that it’s okay to poison the planet. Whereas it is wrong and not to be tolerated.  If for no other reason: Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24484

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BIG PHARMA – MERCK

I have too many family and friends with pre-teens in their families, not to pass this along:

2019-05-15 RFK, Jr.: Gardasil “The Science” Video and Other Facts

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24443

– – – – – – – – – – –

BANKSTERS
2018-12-05 Bonus pools at Canadian banks climb 6.5% in a ‘polarizing’ year, Bloomberg

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24448

The posting above is in follow-up to this one that reinforces memory of the huge indebtedness of Canadian Banks, notably the TD, to Tar Sands Corporations.

2019-04-28   How is it possible to talk about climate change in Canada, and not address corruption of our institutions, the petro-state, the deep state? Some corporate mapping. Billionaires, Tar sands, Mining, Banks and a University.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=24379 

– – – – – – – – – – –
Look through the haze and the jumble, what do you see ahead?   . . .   Greta Thunberg lays it out.  Either we do or we don’t take action.  We have to change.  Dramatically.  Mount the steeds!

2018 Two documentaries. War is over! if you want it – “Imagine” (conceptualizing) Lennon & ReMastered: Tricky Dick & The Man in Black

 Peace or Violence  No Responses »
Jun 052019
 

Netflix documentary “John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky”  (2018),  1.5 hours long. 

 https://www.netflix.com/watch/81069255

(note:  a web search brings up a video that looks like the Netflix film.  It is shorter and not the same.)

The film is about the making of the “Imagine” album (release date Sept 1971;  Vietnam War ended Apr 1975).  But more than that.  It’s about CONCEPTUALIZING.

The documentary is a piecing together of footage taken at the time of the recording of Imagine.  With present-day interviews of the still-alive musicians and recording engineers, of Yoko Ono, of Julian Lennon.

The end of the film makes its relevance to the current climate in the U.S. clear.

I feel heartened when a company like Netflix offers “Imagine” to re-invigorate and move us.  In this time of need.

The song Imagine isn’t everything;  nonetheless,  here’s a youtube of it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaww;   the lyrics are appended,  Scroll down.

Background on Yoko Ono (through childhood photographs and brief interview) provided in the film is helpful.   Sorry!  I can only do words:

Yoko Ono was born in February 1933 in Japan.  In August, 1945 during World War II (1939-45), Americans dropped the world’s first deployed nuclear bomb over Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, another A-bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

So Yoko Ono was 12.5 years old when the bombs dropped.   She went from being a daughter in a wealthy banking family, to a family with nothing, not enough food to eat.   She found she could bring some comfort to her little brother by “imagining” that they were eating whatever he would most like (ice cream!).

Wikipedia:  Ono became an Japanese-American multimedia artist, singer, songwriter and peace activist.

The film connects Ono’s work to Lennon’s.   “Imagine” is about the power of conceptualizing.

In the last quarter of the film are the huge black-and-white billboards that carried the message of the “Imagine” album, in various languages in various countries.

From an interview in the film, roughly:

The New York billboard was in a prime location.  Huge.  Billboards all around selling something.  Full of color.  This stark, all white (black lettering) billboard, not selling anything.  

It was Yoko’s belief that people, if they wanted something strongly enough, could achieve it.   Happy Christmas (War is Over!).   Conceptual art.

WAR IS OVER!

IF YOU WANT IT

Happy Christmas from John and Yoko

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ReMastered: Tricky Dick & The Man in Black

The other Peace vs War documentary film that helped re-energize me:   https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80191051

“Johnny Cash didn’t like the idea of being used.”
2018  Country & Western/Folk
This documentary chronicles Johnny Cash’s 1970 visit to the White House, where Cash’s emerging ideals clashed with Richard Nixon’s policies.
Cash turned the tables on Nixon.  He did not perform the 2 songs that the President requested.  Instead, a new song,  “What is Truth?“.   Johnny Cash and his wife had been in Vietnam 3 weeks prior to the White House Concert.  Lyrics at the bottom, scroll down.
There’s a good trailer at https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80191051
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APPENDED,  LYRICS TO “IMAGINE”, JOHN LENNON, YOKO ONO
Imagine
John Lennon
[Verse 1]
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Ah

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You

[Chorus]
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

[Verse 2]
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You

[Chorus]
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

= = = =  = = = =  = = = =

Johnny Cash – What is Truth – YouTube  and Lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0KQWTBljjg
Lyrics
The old man turned off the radio
Said, “Where did all of the old songs go
Kids sure play funny music these days
They play it in the strangest ways”
Said, “it looks to me like they’ve all gone wild
It was peaceful back when I was a child”
Well, man, could it be that the girls and boys
Are trying to be heard above your noise?
And the lonely voice of youth cries “What is truth?”
A little boy of three sittin’ on the floor
Looks up and says, “Daddy, what is war?”
“son, that’s when people fight and die”
The little boy of three says “Daddy, why?”
A young man of seventeen in Sunday school
Being taught the golden rule
And by the time another year has gone around
It may be his turn to lay his life down
Can you blame the voice of youth for asking
“What is truth?”
A young man sittin’ on the witness stand
The man with the book says “Raise your hand”
“Repeat after me, I solemnly swear”
The man looked down at his long hair
And although the young man solemnly swore
Nobody seems to hear anymore
And it didn’t really matter if the truth was there
It was the cut of his clothes and the length of his hair
And the lonely voice of youth cries
“What is truth?”
The young girl dancing to the latest beat
Has found new ways to move her feet
The young man speaking in the city square
Is trying to tell somebody that he cares
Yeah, the ones that you’re calling wild
Are going to be the leaders in a little while
This old world’s wakin’ to a new born day
And I solemnly swear that it’ll be their way
You better help the voice of youth find
“What is truth/”
Songwriters: Johnny R. Cash
What Is Truth lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, BMG Rights Management US, LLC
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